Apple Pie

Crust
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
10 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cups solid vegetable shortening, chilled, cut into pieces
4 Tbsp ice water

Filling
3 1/2 lbs apples, peeling, cored, and thinly sliced
3/4 cups plus 1 Tbsp suger
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp plus large pinch ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp flour
3 Tbsp unsalted butter, diced
1 Tbsp whole milk

This was my first time making a pie, and writing out those ingredients I realize that I missed a couple things! It came out pretty yummy, although the end product could have looked prettier if I could get the crust to cooperate.

Whisk dry ingredients for the crust. Add butter and shortening and combine until the fats form pea sized grains in the dry ingredients. Sprinkle with the ice water and blend until a ball forms. Divide in half and form each half into a disc. Wrap in plastic and refridgerate for at least an hour.





Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prepare the filling by combining the apples, sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, and vanilla in a bowl. Add the flour right before adding the filling to the crust.

Roll out the bottom crust and drape it into the pie pan (or if you're like me and can't get the dough to cooperate, just smoosh the pie dough onto the bottom of the pan!). Add the filling and dot it with the butter. Roll out the top crust (if you can!) and drape it over the filling. Crimp the top and bottom crusts together and cut vent holes in the top. If your pie crust is like mine, it will conveniently already have lots of vent holes in it when you get it on top of the filling! Brush the top crust with milk. Combine a bit of sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle generously over the top.

Pop the pie in the oven and immediatly reduce the heat to 375. Bake for about 2 hours, or until the top is brown and filling is bubbly.

Stromboli

Ingredients

1 1/2 packages dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
2 cups water, warm (110~)
1 tablespoon salt
5-6 cups flour
1 egg white
1 tablespoon water, cold
2 cups mozzerella cheese
1 package of pepperoni, or other toppings


Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and let it sit until it starts to foam. Add sugar, salt, and 5 cups of the flour. It the dough is still sticky, add more flour. Knead until it forms a smooth ball.

Let the dough rise in a covered greased bowl for about an hour. I like to turn my oven on to the lowest temperature for a couple minutes, turn the oven off and put my bowl in the warm oven to rise.

Punch down the dough and divide into 8-10 even balls. Roll them out into circles and fill with the mozzerella and other toppings. Fold over the dough and pinch to seal on all sides. They should be rectangular. Pleace on a greased baking sheet and cut slits in the top of the dough so that the steam can be released. Beat egg whites with the cold water and brush the tops and sides of the dough.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes. Be careful, these are hot!